Eco-Villages
In 1991, Robert Gilman set out a definition of an eco-villages that was
to become a standard. Gilman defined an eco-villages as a:

human-scale

full-featured settlement

in which human activities
are harmlessly integrated into the natural world

in a way that is
supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully
continued into the indefinite future.

The principles on which
ecovillages rely can be applied to urban and rural settings, as well as
to developing and developed countries. Advocates seek infrastructural
independence and a sustainable lifestyle (for example, of voluntary
simplicity) for inhabitants with a minimum of trade outside the local
area, or ecoregion. Rural ecovillages are usually based on organic
farming, permaculture and other approaches which promote ecosystem
function and biodiversity. Some ecovillages integrate many of the
design principles of cohousing, but with a greater ecological focus and
a more "organic" process, typical of permaculture design.
An eco-village usually relies on:

"Green" infrastructural
capital;

Autonomous building or
clustered housing, to minimize ecological
footprint;

Renewable energy;

Permaculture;

cohousing or other forms
of supportive community.

Its organization also
usually depends upon some instructional capital
or moral codes - a minimal civics sometimes characterized as
eco-anarchism.